Theory - How the Beginning Story of KH3 Will Progress, Twilight Town as Tutorial World

[NezzyGuda]

Okay, so I've finally come up with an explanation for Twilight Town being the tutorial world that actually makes sense and falls in line with everything we've seen so far!

So, I believe the beginning of KH3 will start off with the scene where we see Riku and Mickey take their briefcases from Yen sid and head toward the Realm of Darkness to save Aqua. [More to support this theory is that this is the first scene chronologically that we've seen for KH3, it even takes place before Sora returns to Yen Sid's tower before visiting Olympus] As mickey has mentioned, it is very difficult to access or escape the Realm of Darkness. But here's where it gets interesting, when Sora escaped the Realm of Darkness the first time, Sora ended up in Castle Oblivion, which is located in the Realm Between. So it stands to reason that there is the possibility of accessing the Realm of Darkness by first traveling to the Realm Between. Mickey likely knows this, and so he takes Riku to a location that is directly in the center of the Realm Between, Twilight Town! Once there, I believe the player will play as Riku and search for a way into the Realm of Darkness. I believe this will serve as the tutorial world for the basic mechanics of the game (attacking, magic, inventory, etc.). Once Riku and Mickey find the entrance to the Realm of Darkness, a cutscene will play of them entering the Realm of Darkness and the cutscene will transition to the cutscene of Sora running up the stairs of Yen Sids tower. From here, the player will go to Olympus as Sora and begin the second phase of the tutorial, which will introduce the new Athletic Flow mechanics (as seen from the demo gameplay, which had tutorials that all primarily focused on Athletic Flow). After defeating the Rock Titan and progressing through Olympus, Sora will likely decide to return to Yen Sid's. I believe a cutscene will play of Sora leaving Olympus and then the cutscene will transition to a cutscene of Riku and Mickey in the Realm of Darkness. From here, we take control of Riku and traverse the Realm of Darkness until we finally meet up with Aqua in the Dark Margin. The player will likely have to fight Aqua as Riku (Im guessing Aqua will be fully shrouded in darkness so Mickey and Riku dont actually know who they are fighting until the cutscene plays of Aqua revealing herself, kind of similar to Sora in Ventus's armor from DDD). Once the cutscene plays of Aqua revealing herself, Aqua leaves the Dark Margin and Riku and Mickey soon follow. Riku's cutscene plays of him jamming his shattered keyblade into the ground. Riku and Mickey then head to Yen Sids tower where the cutscene plays of Mickey and Riku walking through the door, and Sora, Donald, and Goofy are standing before Yen Sid. From here Sora will get his KH3 attire and start on his journey to save Roxas after learning that Aqua has fallen to the darkness. He then starts his journey by heading to Twilight Town, where he receives his new gameboy!

So what do you think? 😁

NOTE: Its also possible that the keyblade we see in the trailer that aqua picks up is actually Mickey's keyblade. Aqua probably succeeds in shattering Riku's Keyblade (and injuring him, putting him out of the fight) and disarming Mickey, giving her the opportunity to restrain Mickey in darkness as we see in the trailer.

 

[NezzyGuda]

Im also a very big advocate for Kairi or Lea as the secondary playable character but it just makes so much more sense to go with Riku sadly :'(

 

[Luminary]

While I pretty much agree on things from a timeline perspective, I don’t think Riku will be a playable character early on. The ofher playable character’s scenario is too spoiler heavy to reveal. I don’t think Riku as a tutorial character in Twilight Town would fit that since we already know he makes it to the Realm of Darkness and back. If he’s playable, I don’t think it’ll be until after he receives his new Keyblade.

Instead, I think the game will open with Young Eraqus or Young Xehanort being playable in a scenario that will set up some mystery with the Black Box, Book of Prophecies, Keyblade War, etc. Their cutscene from the trailers has been confirmed to open the game, so it could certainly be part of a tutorial. After completing it, we’ll flash forward to present day events where we’ll see Kairi training with Lea, Riku and Mickey encountering Aqua in the Realm of Darkness, and then finally jump straight into the middle of the action with Sora, Donald, and Goofy.

It could even be an in media res situation where Sora’s story actually starts with the Rock Titan fight from the demo. Only after beating him would we learn that it was part of Sora’s training with Phil and the story would proceed from there. It’d be a nice way to throw us into the action after the initial cutscenes and tutorial.

 

[Alpha Baymax]

While I pretty much agree on things from a timeline perspective, I don’t think Riku will be a playable character early on. The ofher playable character’s scenario is too spoiler heavy to reveal. I don’t think Riku as a tutorial character in Twilight Town would fit that since we already know he makes it to the Realm of Darkness and back. If he’s playable, I don’t think it’ll be until after he receives his new Keyblade.

You remeber when PlayStation magazine released that plot summary of alternating between Sora and Riku's perspective? Well, what if that's the case? But unlike Dream Drop Distance where you drop characters to change, it's segments over to Riku being playable within various moments of the game.

 

[NezzyGuda]

While I pretty much agree on things from a timeline perspective, I don’t think Riku will be a playable character early on. The ofher playable character’s scenario is too spoiler heavy to reveal. I don’t think Riku as a tutorial character in Twilight Town would fit that since we already know he makes it to the Realm of Darkness and back. If he’s playable, I don’t think it’ll be until after he receives his new Keyblade.

Instead, I think the game will open with Young Eraqus or Young Xehanort being playable in a scenario that will set up some mystery with the Black Box, Book of Prophecies, Keyblade War, etc. Their cutscene from the trailers has been confirmed to open the game, so it could certainly be part of a tutorial. After completing it, we’ll flash forward to present day events where we’ll see Kairi training with Lea, Riku and Mickey encountering Aqua in the Realm of Darkness, and then finally jump straight into the middle of the action with Sora, Donald, and Goofy.

It could even be an in media res situation where Sora’s story actually starts with the Rock Titan fight from the demo. Only after beating him would we learn that it was part of Sora’s training with Phil and the story would proceed from there. It’d be a nice way to throw us into the action after the initial cutscenes and tutorial.

I had the same thought that it'd be unlikely to play as Riku so early on, but a few things stuck out to me. 1st, we've had Roxas as the starting point for KH2 so it stands to reason that theres a significant possibility you can start out as a different character. Riku is also Nomuras favorite, so to me it makes sense to make the last major numbered title having Riku as the alt character. Nomura also stated that Twilight Town would be the tutorial world, but that seems impossible with Sora since he goes to Olympus first. But the most prominent thing that stood out is the Aqua cutscene. I find it hard to believe that such a vital and pivotal point in the story would be redu ed to a cutscene and not an actual fight. Especially since Aqua doesnt reveal herself until after the fight, which seems very reminiscent to the KH style of putting you up against an unknown opponent only to explain the opponent after you win the fight. And if Riku is the alt character, i think it would be travesty if we get to play as Riku later on, but we only get to see a cutacene of one of the most important fights in KH3.

I also thought this was the case, but Nomura stated at that time that the tutorial world was Twilight Town (this could possibly have changed due to development, so i take that into account as well. But i created this theory revolving around how Twilight Town could possibly be the tutorial world and this is what i came up with). Eraquas and Xehanort appear to be in Land of Departure. However, i think this theory is definitely a high possibility as well. The only issue i see with it is that it doesnt support a Twilight Town tutorial world very well, unless they are actually in Twilight Town and not Land of Departure. And although I'd love to play as young Eraquas or young xehanort, i dont think theres enouvh content to constitute creating a full set of playable character mechanics. That and Nomura said that youd be thrown straight into combat without a lengthy tutorial. But still, they could have young X or E fighting some crazy battle or something lol, so i guess its possible to throw young E or X straight into combat. You have a very good counterargument here, and i can see this as a definite possibilty. But i also want to play with Riku's new keyblade XD.

And yea, thats a good point, but he specifically goes to Mount Olympus after learning Mickey and Riku went to go save Aqua. Which is confirmed to be the beginning of KH3 by Nomura. Then againnnnn, time does travel differently in the realm of darkness, so that doesnt prove that Olympus isnt a flashback. Lol you have a lot of good counterarguments lol but i still think the timeline i proposed and playing as Riku in Twilight Town is still a possibilty albeit not the only likely possibility. I love your points though.

 

[Luminary]

I think it would actually be less effective to have a playable fight against Aqua in the RoD as Riku. It wouldn’t be that hard since it would be a tutorial/early boss. Plus, you’d have to beat her game wise yet lose story wise, which is always a bit meh to me despite not being unprecedented in this series.

I want it to take place in cutscene so that Aqua can quickly overwhelm both of them with ease to demonstrate how much of a threat she is now that she’s accepted the darkness. I don’t think it’ll even be much of a fight tbh. It’ll just be her show of force. I’d rather an actual fight against her be saved for later when she can pose a real challenge gameplay wise.

Twilight Town can still be a tutorial world for Sora after Olympus. Since we’ll have just gotten the new clothes and transforming Keyblades, we’ll likely learn about Keyblade transformations, along with the many Mobile Portal features, the cooking mechanics with Remy for buffs, and other potential features we haven’t seen yet. It’ll be like the equivalent of Traverse Town where we knew most of the basics, but learned about abilities, magic, etc.

Alpha Baymax, there was an interview with Nomura that said we’d play as other characters at key moments of the game that would be spoilers. In this, he used the plural, indicating there may be more than one playable character. I could see Riku, Kairi, and Roxas all being playable at one point or another when the story calls for it.

 

[NezzyGuda]

I think it would actually be less effective to have a playable fight against Aqua in the RoD as Riku. It wouldn’t be that hard since it would be a tutorial/early boss. Plus, you’d have to beat her game wise yet lose story wise, which is always a bit meh to me despite not being unprecedented in this series.

I want it to take place in cutscene so that Aqua can quickly overwhelm both of them with ease to demonstrate how much of a threat she is now that she’s accepted the darkness. I don’t think it’ll even be much of a fight tbh. It’ll just be her show of force. I’d rather an actual fight against her be saved for later when she can pose a real challenge gameplay wise.

Twilight Town can still be a tutorial world for Sora after Olympus. Since we’ll have just gotten the new clothes and transforming Keyblades, we’ll likely learn about Keyblade transformations, along with the many Mobile Portal features, the cooking mechanics with Remy for buffs, and other potential features we haven’t seen yet. It’ll be like the equivalent of Traverse Town where we knew most of the basics, but learned about abilities, magic, etc.

Alpha Baymax, there was an interview with Nomura that said we’d play as other characters at key moments of the game that would be spoilers. In this, he used the plural, indicating there may be more than one playable character. I could see Riku, Kairi, and Roxas all being playable at one point or another when the story calls for it.

Yea thats a good point. The only weird thing would be that Sora will be using keyblade transformations and fighting a lot in the Olympus world already, making it the tutorial world if Twilight Town doesnt somehow come first. But it would be nice to feel a sense of real danger and strength from Aquanort through a cutscene vs. a fight that you technically would have to win. It could be like a Squall fight (in traverse town) though where the player loses.

And oo i missed that interview but that sounds amazing! I just remember an interview where Nomura said he wanted to implement more characters but time constraints and resources wouldnt allow for it.

 

[Luminary]

Yea thats a good point. The only weird thing would be that Sora will be using keyblade transformations and fighting a lot in the Olympus world already, making it the tutorial world if Twilight Town doesnt somehow come first. But it would be nice to feel a sense of real danger and strength from Aquanort through a cutscene vs. a fight that you technically would have to win. It could be like a Squall fight (in traverse town) though where the player loses.

And oo i missed that interview but that sounds amazing! I just remember an interview where Nomura said he wanted to implement more characters but time constraints and resources wouldnt allow for it.

Keep in mind that a lot of the skills Sora has in the trailers and demo will have to be unlocked in the actual game. So we may or may not be able to transform and perform other certain actions until we progress further. Second Form in particular seems like something we won’t actually access until we get the new clothes. Doesn’t make sense to have a form that throws back to KH2 when Sora is still n his KH2 outfit. But even if we are able to use it and other transformations in Olympus, there are still more things we can learn once we get to Twilight Town as I listed. In addition to those, the Keyblade growth system may be something we learn while there.

Yeah, I think those comments he made way back when were to deter people from expecting every single hero in the series to be playable. 2-4 playable characters wouldn’t be that unreasonable, especially if they’re playable in segments like 0.2 rather equal time as Sora. This is the quote from his interview with everyeye.it, roughly translated from Italian.

Nomura: Yes in the game you can also control other characters in precise moments of history, but will not be equipped with the same skills of Sora and the feeling will be well diversified. I can not tell you more, as it would be a huge spoiler, since it is a sequence closely related to the course of the adventure.